Teen Ink

Whenever I see a train, or hear the whistle of one, especially at night, I get chills of loneliness. I don't really know why. Maybe it's that they're always chugging, chugging, slowly, trying to get...(more »)

Whenever I see a train, or hear the whistle of one, especially at night, I get chills of loneliness. I don't really know why. Maybe it's that they're always chugging, chugging, slowly, trying to get somewhere important, dropping off their cargo, and then what? Exactly! On the move once more, the transition never ends. Maybe it's that thinking about this makes me afraid, like will I be forever moving, picking up and leaving again and again like I have my whole life, never staying long enough to make connections. Will I never rest? Trains take people away from each other (picture the beginning of the Narnia movie), and take you away from places you love. If you were to ask the average train (especially a passenger train) about it's lifetime, it would be sure to have a billion stories of people, bittersweet and melancholy, its interior reeking of people on the go. And yet joyful, too, for traveling is so exciting! Seeing new places, experiencing new things, stirs up a part of us that can not be moved by anything else. That's the discrepancy... maybe I'm crazy for wanting nothing more then to be able to settle down in a place and stay for at least a few years, but also wanting nothing more than to get out, about, and see the wold, experience new cultures, meet new people. Haven't I already done that enough? Why would I turn the other cheek, go back for more... as many people would say, I'm probably "just asking for it!" I'm not sure anymore where trains come into all of this, but all I can say is that this is what they remind me of, because every time I hear one, it makes me lonely.« read less